In many homes and offices, the prior art telephone answering device usually included a telephone unit and an answering machine connected to the telephone line that served to record messages in the event that nobody was able to pick up the handset portion of the telephone unit to handle the incoming telephone call.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,531,203 discloses a telephone substation coupler for conversation recording which permits a subscriber to record the conversation between his station and another station. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,886,640 discloses telephone answering and recording devices for automatically answering a telephone, recording a message delivered by the calling party, or recording a two-way telephone conversation, and having means for playing back the recorded message. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,710 discloses a fairly complex communication system which permits master stations to be selectively interconnected to a plurality of shared amplifiers. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,266 discloses a connection across telephone lines that permits a recorder to be activated by lifting the handset. When the handset is replaced, the recorder is shut off. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,752 discloses a cordless telephone system wherein a tape recorder operable by a membrane touch and remote from the telephone records the speech content and also permits playback of the speech content in the remote unit. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,767 discloses a control circuit for a telephone answering set wherein the record-play switch of a message tape deck is coupled to a two position switch to enable a telephone answering set in automatic answer and message playback conditions. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,704 discloses a telephone answering device with an automatic switching mechanism for switching between an automatic answering mode and a two-way conversation recording mode, however, there is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,509 discloses a portable system for recording telephone conversations which uses a battery-powered sound recorder carried by the user. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,272 discloses an ordinary answering machine that is connected to the line if subscriber does not answer the cable. In addition, a code is transmitted for informational purposes to tell the called party who is calling. If the called party elects not to answer the call, the answering machine is connected to the line so that recording can take place. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,198 discloses a system in which a user selects one of a plurality of call response messages by activating the control key of the responder system that corresponds to the desired message. There is no disclosure nor suggestion of permitting a person to receive a call and then switch the call to a message recording device which permits the person receiving the call to hang up without affecting the message being recorded on the message recording device.
One significant problem with these prior art telephone answering systems or devices is that there is no way to record information on an answering or message recording machine after a person actually picked up the call on the handset of the telephone unit. Very often, a person picking up an incoming telephone call on the handset of a telephone unit or on a speaker phone discovered that the call was for someone else in their office or residence; i.e., for a friend or family member such as for one of the children or a spouse. In this situation, there was usually the frantic rush to locate a writing instrument and some paper to record the phone number, the name and possibly a brief message from the caller. If the materials were not present to write down the number, name and message from the caller, then the person receiving the call was required to use their memory to at least try to remember the name of the caller and to not forget to tell the person for whom the call was intended.
Fairly complex telephone systems such as PBX systems and even recent voice mail systems endeavored to receive and record incoming calls especially for the business environment. These fairly complex telephone systems were usually computer controlled and very elaborate or sophisticated and therefore extremely expensive.
Accordingly, there was a need to provide a telephone answering device that could be simply attached or coupled to any conventional telephone unit and that would permit a person picking up or answering a call on the handset of the telephone unit or using a speaker phone to be able to personally switch the incoming call to a message recording machine and thereafter permit the receiver of the call to be able to "hang up" and still permit the caller to continue talking to leave a message on the message recording device.